Bulgaria's representative in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International is working hard to dispel claims that the EU-backed energy diversification project is unfeasible.
In an interview May 27 for Bulgarian National Radio, Dimitar Abadzhiev said that none of the countries participating in the gas pipeline project had even hinted at doubts over its successful implementation. The signatories to the Nabucco Intergovernmental Agreement are Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey.
"We still consider this as the most viable project aimed at connecting the Turkish gas market to Europe," Abadzhiev said.
Abadzhiev was responding to comments made May 24 by BP that Nabucco is economically unfeasible. BP representative Iain Conn said the oil company was no longer considering Nabucco as an option for shipping gas from the Shah Deniz Stage 2 Gas field in Azerbaijan.
Conn made clear that BP and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic were discussing only two options for their gas - a smaller version of Nabucco, Nabucco West, and the South East Europe Pipeline.
Under the original project, the 4000km Nabucco gas pipeline is to carry over 30bcm per year of gas into Europe in order to reduce its dependency on Russian imports. Under the revised version, the 1300km pipeline, Nabucco West, is to transport Caspian gas from the Bulgarian-Turkish border to the Central European Gas Hub in Baumgarten and beyond.
"Nabucco meets all the conditions for a secure pipeline in both versions, the full-scale version and the shorter version, Nabucco West," Abadzhiev said.